Day 65

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November 15, 2009
“Almost heaven, West Virginia”…after leaving our hotel this morning, we started on our search for Donna’s West Virginia roots! We drove through the western part of the state and arrived in Welch at about noon. This is where Donna was born. After getting herself oriented, Donna directed us to her aunt’s home up a road in an area called “Junior Pokey”, where cousin Jean and her son Randy still live. Of course they weren’t expecting us. When we drove up into the driveway, a man standing there came over to the car…Donna started to tell him who she was, she hadn’t been back in 25 years, but he immediately said in his West Virginia twang “Oh I know who you are; I recognized you right away”!! It was her second cousin Randy, who they call Pig…which in no way describes this lovely man. Her cousin Jean, who looks so much like Donna, at first looked quizzically at us. When Donna said who she was, Jean looked delighted! It was wonderful!!! Donna walked around the property, remembering…”Here’s where we climbed up the mountain…down there we swam in the creek… “We stayed for a short visit and then were on our way.
Not far from there, we found a local restaurant; Wally’s, where Bill ate chicken livers…making that reason number 300 on this trip why I may become a vegetarian. There was a lot of local color…just the accents alone are fascinating. There were men dressed in camouflage outfits for hunting (reason number 301) and others dressed in ATV attire. The food was ok, but not up to Donna’s West Virginia standards!
We drove for another couple of hours and landed in Lewisburg where we stopped for the night. Again over cocktails, we discussed our remaining few days and the road home…
Today’s Road Lesson: “Hey it’s good to be back home again”.

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